Why The Princess Bride Should be at the Top of Everyone’s List

By: Kara Haselton

The humor.

The sass.

The respect.

The sarcastic respect.

The Princess Bride is without a doubt the best movie to have been created. Depending on who you ask, it’s also the most quoted movie of all time. If not the most quoted, it’s in the top five. (Google it).

Clearly, I have evidence and rationale to backup my claim. I’m not alone in these thoughts. There’s a reason for that. A reason why it’s so popular, why people quote it so often, and why it should be the top of everyone’s list of favorite movies.

For one thing, it’s based off a book. That’s the number one sign that it’s a fantastic movie: every good movie is based off some kind of literature.

But here’s the biggest reason: you could literally like any movie genre and find those same characteristics in The Princess Bride.

You like love stories? Done.

Adventures? Got that too.

Swordfights? Alright.

Pirates? Check.

Satire? Oh, you better believe it.

Absurdism? Hahaha.

Comedy? 100%.

Unlikely rescue? Yessir.

Intelligent jokes? Not even a question.

Plot twists? Oh so many.

The humor of our generation and society has changed slightly so that we enjoy clever parodies, biting sarcasm, making light of dark circumstances, and jokingly underestimating situations. But it’s not even a parody movie.

There are overly obvious titles, such as “the pit of despair” and “the cliffs of insanity,” and hilarious names like Buttercup and Prince Humperdink. There’s a critical kid making fun of the sappy parts of the movie. Typical 80’s graphics. Perfectly timed events and characters conveniently having all necessary materials. Classic.

Let’s not forget about the “mawwage” scene, and the minister who can’t pronounce anything right.

Not to mention the plethora of incredible memes that have stemmed from this movie.

Nearly everyone’s favorite scene is the iconic “battle of wits” that takes place between Pirate Westley and Vizzini. It’s hilarious to listen to Vizzini’s famous rabbit hole of logic when he tries to rationalize which cup he may or may not drink out of, but none of it makes any kind of sense. That’s pure gold.

“Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you, and you must have suspected I would have known the powder’s origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

You’ve beaten my giant, which means you’re exceptionally strong. So, you could have put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you’ve also bested my Spaniard which means you must have studied. And in studying, you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

There are just so many story cliches that I have to make a list of them:

Pirates

A giant

A short, know-it-all man

A princess

A farmboy

A prince

A kidnapping

An adventure

A duel

A showdown

A battle of wits

A cliff

A sea of eels

An overused word: “Inconceivable”

A Sword fight scene

True love

An empowered woman

A catchy phrase: “as you wish”

A place that is “impossible” to escape: the fire swamp

Plot twists

An unlikely rescue

Weird animals: R-O-U-S’s

A “pit of despair”

An albino

A dungeon

A magic wizard guy

A resurrection from the “mostly dead”

A wedding

A revenge

Basically, if you haven’t seen The Princess Bride, you should because you’re pretty much guaranteed to like it.